Every June 9, the Church remembers Blessed Ana María Taigi, an Italian mystic and laywoman linked as a tertiary to the Order of the Holy Trinity and Captives, whose members are known as ‘Trinitarians’. She lived between the 18th and 19th centuries.
Ana María was married and sanctified herself as a wife and mother. Today she is considered the patron saint of mothers and housewives.
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“That woman was a happiness for me and a consolation for everyone… With her wonderful touch, she was capable of maintaining a heavenly peace in the home”, with these warm words Domingo Taigi described Blessed Ana María, his wife, with who had seven children.
A hard childhood
Anna Maria Gesualda Antonia Gianetti was the blessed name. She was born in Siena (Italy) in 1769. Her parents were well off financially, but they lost everything and were forced to emigrate to Rome in search of a more favorable situation. Both dedicated themselves to working as domestic servants, while Ana María was placed in an educational institution for children without resources. Unfortunately, the family’s financial shortcomings created a climate of permanent tension at home, in which little Ana María would suffer the consequences – constant insults and abuse.
At the age of thirteen, the blessed woman began to earn her bread with her own work. First she worked in a silk weaving workshop and then she joined the domestic service of the palace of one of the wealthiest and most prestigious families of the time, the Chigi.
Fall in love and marriage
About to turn twenty, Ana María meets Domingo Taigi, the Chigi’s errand boy. They both fall in love and get married. Dominic was a good Christian, but of an angry and often sour character. Despite this, he was a very hard-working and responsible man.
In those days, God stirred up other things, holy and new, in Ana’s heart.
One Sunday, visiting St. Peter’s Basilica with her husband, Ana María passed by a priest, Father Ángel, who, upon seeing her, was struck by a thought: “Look at that woman. God is going to entrust her to direct her spiritually. Work for her conversion, for she is destined to do much good.”
God’s call
Things were never easy for the Taigi family. For this reason, Ana María frequented a church near her house where she immersed herself in prayer for long periods; There she found the comfort and strength she was looking for. One day, trying to find a priest to confess, she found Father Ángel, the same one who had seen her in San Pedro. The priest told him: “I was waiting for you. God wants to guide her towards her holiness. Do not neglect this call from God.” From that day on, the priest would become Ana María’s spiritual director.
With the help of Father Ángel, the blessed learned new ways and paths to face the difficulties or mortifications of daily life. Dedicated to God, she would never neglect her role as his wife and homemaker; On the contrary, Ana María went out of her way to care for her children. However, she was increasingly attracted to the idea of a greater commitment to God, so she entered the Third Trinitarian Order.
Ordinary life made extraordinary
Ana took great care of her family, starting with her fussy husband, her seven children – three of whom died as children – and her parents, who also lived with her. She used to gather everyone together every morning to pray, then she would take them to Mass and at night, she would gather them together again to listen to some spiritual reading and end the day in prayer. This was her “secret” to keeping her family together: always being close to God.
Ana also took time to work on sewing and raise extra money and help her husband with household expenses. Whenever she could, she saved some of what she earned to help someone who was more in need than her. Her husband did not always understand her in this and, more than once, captured by her anger and frustration, he went so far as to verbally abuse her.
Despite everything, in the daily and ordinary life of the home, Ana María achieved something extraordinary: that God was the center of the family, and that there was always time for prayer. Blessed She had, in that context, intense mystical experiences. Furthermore, God granted him the gifts of spiritual intuition and infused science. She was able to speak with propriety about divine designs in relation to the dangers that always lurk in the Church, about the mysteries of faith and about future events – she predicted the exact date of her death to Saint Vincent Strambi.
The blessed also experienced physical and mental agonies, especially when she prayed for the conversion of some stubborn sinner; Likewise, she discovered more than once the intentions and thoughts of some of the people who turned to her for advice – it is said that every day there was someone knocking on the Taigi’s door in search of spiritual help.
In the last years of his life his health deteriorated. It was a stage in which he embraced the cross. As if that were not enough, he had to face the test of gossip and slander. Despite everything, no one could take away her serene smile, an expression of her exemplary confidence and patience.
Legacy and patronage
After an agony of seven months, Ana María Taigi left for the Father’s House on June 9, 1837. She was beatified on May 30, 1920 by Pope Benedict XV. Her remains are found in the Church of San Chrysogonus in Rome.
She is the patron saint of Italian Catholic Action and of women victims of abuse by their husbands or partners.
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If you want to know a little more about Ana María Taigi, you can read the following article from the Catholic Encyclopedia: https://ec.aciprensa.com/wiki/Beata_Ana_María_Taigi.
More information about the Blessed here:
Central Editorial
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